Elevator systems include various types of drives for moving an elevator car among various landings. Traction drive systems utilize a roping arrangement for supporting the weight of the elevator car and a counterweight. A traction sheave is associated with a motor for moving the roping arrangement to cause desired movement of the elevator car. There are a variety of such configurations known in the art.
One approach includes having deflector sheaves supported on the elevator car such that the roping passes beneath the elevator car as it bends around those sheaves. Such an arrangement is typically called underslung because the sheaves and roping are beneath the floor of the elevator car. Examples of underslung elevator car arrangements are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,931,265; 6,397,974; 6,443,266; 6,715,587 and 6,860,367. Another underslung arrangement is shown in the United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0175140.
One challenge associated with utilizing an underslung arrangement is keeping the overall elevator car design compact to achieve space savings. For example, pit depth requirements are based, at least in part, on the configuration of the elevator car. It would be desirable to be able to achieve the benefits of more modern elevator car configurations while using an underslung arrangement without sacrificing the size benefits afforded by a more modern elevator car design.
With conventional arrangements, typical elevator cars include a frame structure and a separate cabin. Vibration isolating elements typically have been provided for mounting the cabin to the frame to achieve a desired ride quality. If an elevator system were to include a different elevator car design, the typical approach would no longer be available for achieving a desired level of vibration isolation. For example, if one were to use an integrated elevator car frame and cabin structure that are not manufactured separately, there would be no intermediate locations or vibration isolators between the cabin structure and the frame. If such an alternative elevator car structure were used, a new approach would be required for isolating sheave vibrations of an underslung configuration from the interior of the elevator cab.